The Art of Christmas

This looked a lot better in the previews. Unfortunately, it falls flat from the very beginning and never rises from there.

The acting ranges from poor to so-so, the script is lacking, and there is little chemistry among the cast.

I also have to agree with Jack, I have never seen that much cleavage in one of these movies. I guess she paid for those things and she's gonna get her money's worth.

I always try to find something good about every movie. I suppose I would have to say the best friend was well-done. I really don't have much else, unfortunately.

All those actors we see in all those Hallmark movies have been at it for years, but they're all under contract. Great American has a smaller pool of available talent as a result. It will take a while to get the quality up, but I remain confident that they're on the right track.

But this movie is already deleted.

... but the acting just wasn't there. Both female mains acted like it was their first time out, rushing their lines and speaking with that nervous throaty voice you hear from new actors. Bridgette Kingsley has no excuse for that, she's been around for a LONG time.

Her "first boyfriend" is 49 and they obviously wanted him to play much younger, so they caked makeup on him to the point his face looks plastic in every scene.

Our male romantic lead, also in his late 40s, acted like maybe he had Asperger's ... just really odd deliveries of his lines and often looking off into space as he delivered them. Maybe he felt self-conscious staring down Bridgette's cleavage as often as they displayed it ... which was a plus from my point of view. LOL (And about the only one).

On top of the above, most of the dialogue was either trite or just bad.

In our book, this is yet another GAF misfire this year, and indications are they've had some issues, with one planned movie not showing up at all, and last minute scheduling swaps on others. Maybe the rushed line delivery isn't the actors', but post-production sound problems? Regardless of which it is, it distracts from the story and makes some conversations hard to follow.

For the completist only ... otherwise safe to skip.

This movie was very hard to watch. I did finish it. The story line was a decent one. The writing felt a little weak at times. The acting was very amateurish. They talked very fast and in choppy sentences. They are older actors so it shouldn't have been this way. They are experienced actors on many different shows. I think my biggest beef was with Reggie ( Darrin Brooks). He's mostly been on soap operas. His acting felt very forced and inauthentic. He was so cringy. Fun fact: He's married to Kelly Kruger (Brit) in this movie. This movie you can pass on. Nothing great to see so you're not missing anything.

I never heard of these production companies and some of the elements of this movie come off as amateur. The script by the lead actor Brigette Kingsley is clumsy and makes the acting look bad. I don't think the actors are fully responsible for how bad it seemed. Kingsley has some wardrobe that is very attention getting, but perhaps a little too fancy. The background music is distracting at times. It shouldn't be noticeable, but in several cases a strong melodic line draws attention from the dialogue.

The story follows some usual lines but isn't exactly the same old stuff. I mentioned the script being clumsy and it is in several instances. One of the best examples is the two part break up between Liv and Bradley. One positive in the story is the birthday surprise for Liv by Jake and the kids. It's cute.

The movie is family friendly with the possible minor except of at least one dress worn by Kingsley. On any other network it wouldn't be noticed. Otherwise, there isn't a lot of tension in this movie.

The movie closes with the show and a nice performance by Ariella Cannon.

7.2 stars.

The theme is mundane. It's about a female artist who finds her true passion for art and children once she is able to find herself. We can't forget there is a man and a lonely little girl in the story who enable her to do just that.

This is an okay movie, nothing really special if I'm being honest, but I've certainly seen much worse. I wasn't disappointed, because my expectations were already pretty limited. Why limited? The low rating for one, and I don't have the time to watch everything these days, so I've been avoiding any movie below 6.2 stars, but some of the reviews got my attention. I thought maybe this will be engaging and fun and I'm trying to see if these really low level films are as bad as people say. When a movie falls below 6.2 stars, it tends to be lackluster, but this is not always the case. Once in a while one of these will surprise you. Unfortunately, 'The Art of Christmas' is not one, however it's also not that bad. Like I said, I've seen a lot worse, so not a total waste of time.